Designed to replace the GeForce 8800 GTX, the new 9800 GTX is not quite as mighty as once suspected. In fact if you look at the specifications carefully, the GeForce 9800 GTX appears to be nothing more than a tweaked version of the already existing GeForce 8800 GTS 512 graphics card. This is made disappointing due to the fact that the 8800 GTS 512 is very similar to the 8800 GTX in terms of performance.

The GeForce 9800 GTX features 128 SPUs clocked at 1.68GHz, with 64 TAUs (Texture Address Units) and 16 ROPs (Rasterization Operator Units), which is the exact same core configuration of the 8800 GTS 512. The core operates at 675MHz, while the GDDR3 memory screams long to the tune of 2.2GHz! This means while the 9800 GTX core is clocked just 4% higher than that of the 8800 GTS 512, the memory is clocked 13% higher. Overall the memory bandwidth of the 9800 GTX is just 12% greater, as both share the same 256-bit wide memory bus.

It is worth mentioning that although the MSRP for the GeForce 9800 GTX is $299-$349 US, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 is currently on sale for as little as $249 US. In this review we will be focusing on the comparison between the new GeForce 9800 GTX and the 8800 GTS 512. That said, there will also be a number of other graphics cards included as well, such as the 9800 GX2. In fact it is also probably worth mentioning that two GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards in SLI mode would deliver similar performance to that of the 9800 GX2, given the similarity in specifications.

Therefore, as we see it, if you overclock the GeForce 8800 GTS 512 you get a GeForce 9800 GTX, if you cut the GeForce 9800 GX2 in half you get a GeForce 9800 GTX. So is it best to cut, overclock or simply just buy a GeForce 9800 GTX? Read on to find out...